Livorno
is intimately tied to the sea, both in its past and in its present. Tuscany's
main port and among the most important in Italy, it was little more than a fishing
village, when, at the beginning of the 16th century, Cosimo I decided to make
it the most important sea port in the grand-ducal state. In order to promote
immigration he promulgated the celebrated "constitution of Livorno",
which gave all Jews, Moslems and others without a homeland the right to asylum;
since that time the social fabric of the city has always been characterised
by its great variety. Its architecture is maritime, with the Medici fortifications,
the dykes, the large squares swept by the sea wind, the old quarter of Venezia
Nuova, built by Venetian workers with techniques typical of the lagoon city
and linked to the port through its warehouses, once used by merchants to store
the cargo unloaded from the ships…
Livorno, unique among the large Tuscan cities in not being able to boast ancient
origins, was the birthplace of innovative artistic figures such as Giovanni
Fattori, leader of the movement of Macchiaioli painters, and Amedeo Modigliani,
an artist of international scope.
